News Headlines:

Mumbai attack gunman Kasab hanged, buried in Yeravada prison

21 Nov 2012, 0835 hrs IST, AGENCIES

Ajmal
Kasab, the lone Pakistani gunman caught alive after the Mumbai terror attack,
was hanged to death at the Yerawada central prison here in a top-secret
operation this morning, less than a week before the fourth anniversary of the
carnage.

25-year old Kasab was hanged at 7.30 am, Maharashtra Home
Minister R R Patil said in Mumbai shortly after the hanging. Pakistan government
was kept informed about the execution.

Kasab did not have any last wish or a will, Chavan told
reporters in Mumbai.

The execution in the Mumbai attack trial brought
closure to many people affected by the audacious strike by 10 terrorists of
Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in which 166 people were
killed. Nine LeT men were killed during the 60-hour siege which began on the
night of November 26, 2008.

Kasab was executed after he exhausted all
legal remedies available to escape the noose with President Pranab Mukherjee
rejecting his mercy plea on November 5.

Kasab, who has been lodged at
the Arthur Road prison in central Mumbai ever since his arrest soon after the
terror attack, was whisked out of his heavily-guarded cell in the intervening
night of November 18 and 19, a senior police official said. The team, along with
Kasab, reached Pune's Yerwada jail in the wee hours of November
19.

"The President rejected the mercy petition on November 5. I
signed it on November 7 and on November 8, the Mharashtra government had been
communicated to take action. It was decided that he would be executed on
November 21 at 7.30 AM. and accordingly the whole process has been completed
today," Shinde said, adding secrecy about the hanging was a
key.

External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said according to
legal requirements, India informed Pakistan Government and Kasab's family about
the "inevitable event" of his execution.

"We attempted to convey to
Pakistan's Foreign Office that this decision has been taken and the execution
will be done this morning. Since those were not accepted by Foreign Office, by
fax we indicated the information to them," he said in New Delhi.